Paraguay Parliamentary Coup Lawyer Named Security Vice Minister

Authorities confirmed Friday night that Jalil Rachid was appointed vice minister of domestic security. Rachid was the country's prosecutor in charge of the case against 11 campesinos for the Curuguaty massacre.

The Curuguaty massacre saw 11 campesinos and three police killed in 2012. The conservative Colorado Party (currently in power) used it as a pretext to oust the then-progressive President Fernando Lugo one week later. The proceedings led by Rachid have been internationally decried, especially for overlooking the responsibility of security forces in the massacre aside.

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Rachid filled the vacancy left by Javier Ibarra, who had just resigned. One week earlier, Ibarra was found with three weapons in his armored vehicle, for which he blamed state officials from Cartes' administration. Ibarra claimed he had obtained the weapons after reports informed him that mafia groups had death threats against him.

Two others were also considered for the position: Joel Cazal, attorney from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, and Jorge Kronawetter, head of the General Office of Migrations.

According to ABC Color, Cazal had excellent relations with security forces, especially on delicate issues like the offensive against the two guerrilla groups fighting for campesinos' right to land in Paraguay.

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However, the conservative administration of Horacio Cartes argued that his appointment could have affected the work of the Public Ministry and the Joint Task Force (FTC) – a body recently created to fight the guerrilla but repeatedly criticized for criminalizing the campesino movement instead.

On June 15, 2012, police officers forcibly removed a group of landless farmers occupying private property in Curuguaty. Three days later, Paraguay’s public prosecutor filed criminal charges against 13 of them for invasion of property and criminal association.

Paraguay’s right-wing opposition used the massacre to push for the impeachment of Fernando Lugo, the country’s first center-left president in over 60 years. Some have labeled the manoeuvre which restored the right-wing Colorado Party to power, a parliamentary coup d’état.